I'm back from my long sabbatical and a lot has changed. For starters my address has. I've moved to another continent, another job and now another story begins. A good one.
Change is often a frightening proposition but for me who gets restless after a while, change is just the adrenalin rush I need, at least till the calcium in my bones begins to wear off.
So I have travelled a little over these three months - visited a remote village in north India and witnessed some decades old traditions. I was a little hesitant about the visit. I don’t think I subscribe to most of their beliefs but being there and seeing it up close I think I have begun to respect it a little more. And some of them are atrociously silly yet fun.
After a heavy dose of traditions, it became imperative to escape - so we took off to the Himalayas (Dan & I) for a few days to enjoy the serenity and the wild side. We spent some nights in a tent at 7000 feet in remote wilderness, the wind roaring and the total blackout on a stormy night was romantic as hell. Competing against each other as we went rafting for 11 kms on the Yamuna, slithering down the bridge and rappelling at 8000 feet definitely served as an aphrodisiac.
No sooner were we back, I took off with my friends. Though it was more a business trip, the five days we spent together working and laughing, were the best I have had in a very long time. What followed were surprise birthday parties, drunken dinners, all night discussions and just a lot of fun.
Last month in London was a family affair. Being with my parents and siblings reminded me of an era long lost. And the many barbeques we have every weekend with loads of friends around fill the house and the garden with laughter and frolic. While I sit on the patio and write this, Dan is heating up the charcoal to cook up yet another of his famous barbeque dinners surrounded by many happy faces.
I begin to think how easily I had given up these simple pleasures of life without even realizing it. Until a few months ago we worked our butts off, were in office most weekends; went on for days without spending any quality time with family or friends; returned home exhausted around midnight and would yet talk work. It just refused to leave us.
Guess it was a job hazard. In India, as senior journalists, you not just bring work home, you take it with you, in you wherever you go. And just when you want to take your mind off it, your phone rings and the cycle begins.
And its not just for journalists, almost all my friends in any profession lead a stressful life, constantly on call. And if you think growing up the ladder makes things easier, think again, it just makes you a prisoner to your career. The strangest thing is the routine gets so overpowering that you rarely even realize what you have lost.
I work hard here too and enjoy my work. But when I get home at 6:30 pm (yes I actually get home at a decent hour now!) I dont bring work home. So I have time to do whatever I really want to do – my interests and hobbies have now come back from the grave.
Every evening Dan & I manage to go on a walk and enjoy some quiet time or talk about interesting things that have nothing to do with work or home. I have my weekends free, so I can have friends over or go away some nice place almost every next weekend. I now feel I have been given the gift of time- a precious commodity that I felt easily slip through my hands the past few years.
I'm writing this blog today especially for my friends who were sceptical when I decided to take the plunge. I know somewhere they wanted or wished to do that too but were afraid how things would work out and were bothered by the faint voice in their head that kept asking, ‘Does it make any sense to give everything up and begin your life once again?’
To be honest, I was worried too. That voice kept nagging me too. But today its gone away coz its got its answer.
As in bridge slithering, the toughest part is to lean back and let go at the right time– the more you lean the scarier it gets but you have to keep leaning far back if you dont want to smash your head against the bridge when you let go. That is the toughest part and if you can do that right, the rest is just a smooth ride. And the view from up above is just fantastic!
